I won't recap. Others have already done that.The Sci Fi channel often has really, really bad stuff. "Falcon Down" is only half bad.Having some competent actors is a plus. Cliff Robertson is clearly over the hill, but Captain Kirk is in fine fettle. And Judd Nelson does his usual competent job.And having a couple of very attractive, hot women on board is always a definite plus, even if they are a little over the hill to be labeled "babes." (I know, that's not PC.) Now the parts I don't understand near the end: If the mini-sub is tethered to the big sub (with no release mechanism? com' on), and it's clamped to the Falcon, how does the mini-sub free itself and yet the big sub remains attached to the Falcon? And, since the Falcon crushes at 300 ft (I don't think any airplane is built like that), and the sub at 1200, how does the plane drag the sub down to the sub's crush depth? The Falcon is crushed, so it weighs no more than when the Chinese sub planned to tow it.Why would the Baltimore PD arrest someone trying to interview the Chinese ambassador? It's not like the CIA was stealing the Falcon. I like a good (fictional) conspiracy as much as the next guy, but this makes no sense whatsoever.But it was only half-bad.

We start with a couple of fighter pilots, flying some sort of "secret" mission. You know right away what kind of movie this is going to be because these guys act as completely unprofessional as possible. Imagine a couple of teenagers let loose in a pair of jet fighters, just screwin' around, having fun, as William Shatner relays orders over the radio (which they ignore). Well, because they're such idiots, they wander into the test area of some new weapon (Shatner reminded them of this about ten times, but of course...). Anyhow, one of them gets shot down by some sort of microwave weapon, which causes the usual silly looking electrocution effect to dance all over the plane. The other pilot is really upset, he thought you could just play around with high tech military gadgetry like some little kid in a toy shop, and nobody would get hurt. He's doesn't think it's fair! Anyhow, he gets - rightfully - discharged from the Air Force.Now we skip to some Area 51 UFO footage, this is the footage that will blow the whole conspiracy wide open, we're told. The really comical thing is that this footage is so OBVIOUSLY fake, computer generated special effects. I don't even know what this crap had to do with the rest of the movie.Anyhow, they eventually have to get the disgraced fighter pilot to steal some airplane that contains the microwave weapon before it's sold to the Chinese. For some reason, they keep talking about this weapon as if it's some sort of doomsday machine, which just adds to the stupidity. The acting isn't too terrible, it's just dull. As always with these B-movies, the fighter pilot was the greatest the world has ever seen, he flew SR-71's (kind of funny because considering his maturity level, he wouldn't be allowed in the same hanger with an SR-71, but whatever). At one point he asks why they want him instead of any of the other 1,000 guys who HAVEN'T been drummed out of the Air Force - William Shatner does his best serious voice and says "Because, it's a standard cliché in these sorts of movies. Where have you been?" Well, okay, I made that up, but you've got to chuckle at a movie that goes the extra mile to make its plot holes even more glaringly obvious than they were in the first place. Jennifer Rubin shows up and looks sexy, that's about the best part of the movie. Otherwise it's just standard low budget silliness with a convoluted plot, some nutty conspiracy theorists we keep seeing on videotape confession segments, characters you'll forget by the time the first credit rolls, and enough plot holes to create quite a little comedy of errors. If you're a B-movie fan and looking for something to rent on a really dull evening, this might fit the bill.

Being a huge science fiction fan I picked this movie to balance out my wife's romantic comedy pick. Ironically, in spite of all the expectations of a terrible B grade movie, I was pleasantly surprised in some areas. OK, so there was a laughable storyline. Was this a blatant ripoff of that terrible 70's movie FIREFOX with Clint Eastwood? And if so, why would anybody choose to ripoff such a disaster to begin with? Dale Midkiff couldn't act his way out of a paperbag, much less this movie. The CGI special effects were embarrassingly bad and were barely a step above 1950's Buck Roger's flying saucers. BUT here's the good stuff. Judd Nelson is actually pretty good in this film. Maybe I'm so used to seeing him in his typical schoolboy role, but he really does a reasonable convincing job as the conspirator. And any opportunity to watch William Shatner is always good. The set design was surprisingly good for a movie that probably didn't have much for sets. A very interesting design for the flight deck, especially from an aircraft buff like myself. And a nice design for the aircraft itself, reminiscent of the old Valkyrie experimental airplanes that were mothballed by the airforce after a few disastrous test flights.

It's long been considered that Government organizations cover up many incidents. Probably the most infamous are the whispers that The Government actually has proof of alien beings and has their DNA, spacecraft and who knows what else hidden in an area in Roswell, New Mexico called Area 51. Then there are some of the 'apparently' factual incidents investigated by TV shows such as "The X Files". As for the military's involvement, there's only speculation - but it's believed they are present in most of these theories in some respect.In "Falcon Down", it's the Military and the Government that are responsible for such a large scale cover-up. So large scale, that eye witnesses who have claimed to witness something related to the operation have been erased. Many of these people claimed that it was some kind of Alien spacecraft that was being kept quiet by the Government. In the film, we discover that it's something a little more close to home. Or Earth if you will.Two airforce pilots come face to face with an unforseen terror in the skies. One of them suddenly goes blind and his jet falls to a fiery death. Nearby, a commercial airline also goes down.Wanting answers and bewildered by what has happened, the surviving airforce pilot, Hank Thomas (Dale Midkiff) is discharged from service following a fiery meeting with the rather suspicious, Major Robert Carson (Shatner). Several months later, Hank is bullied into leading a top secret operation, run by his old foe, Carson. The mission involves stealing a super-jet called the 'Falcon' (complete with underneath weapon, hence the blinding of the pilot) and then, as he is ordered, take it to a rendevous point where it will be dismantled so no one else can be harmed by it's terror.Joined by a group of mercenaries - one a 'trigger-happy' Rambo-type, another an intellectual yet green faced player (Judd Nelson), a straight player and femme fatale (Rubin) - Hank skillfully takes control of the stolen jet and finds himself followed by the U.S airforce and other unforseen threats. With fuel running out, it seems the only option Hank has is to land the plane on Ice. And as we know, Ice eventually melts.Labelled as a B-Grade film, the most surprising thing about "Falcon Down" is that it is notches above it's direct-to-video companions. The visual effects are well done, the characters are more than the one-dimensional lot we usually see in films like this, and overall, it's an entertaining ride. Just when it looks to let up, it throws in another surprise, or plot twist. It also provokes a talking point..do top-secret cover-ups like this happen?